Testing the Relationship Between Stiffness and Recollection
by 0torno
Summary: Dr. Nemesis and Dr. Kavita Rao discuss love... during the night.


In room 23 of the west corridor on Utopia, the silence of the late hour and darkness was warm and content. The tangle of exhausted limbs and the sheets that twisted around them were just beginning to grow comfortably cool again with the chill of nighttime, and the night's experiments had been a success. The electric clock on the bedside table read 3:46 a.m.

Dr. Kavita Rao reclined against the end of the bed, propped up with pillows, bare arms loosely encircling the shoulders of Dr. James Bradley. Chest nearly covered by white sheets, his head rested on the tautness of her stomach. Their breathing was slow and even, and they might have been asleep save for the quiet - but undeniably conscious - light of their open eyes. Kavita let her hand slide up the curve of his shoulder to rest in the hollow of his collarbone.

Minutes of contented silence passed. Then she spoke.

"Have you ever been in love before, James?" she asked idly, running the fingers of her other hand through the pale strands of hair trailing across his still-damp brow.

His eyes flicked up towards her briefly before returning to their half-closed state. "Why, have you?"

She paused before answering. "A boy in India. He asked me to marry him."

"You said no?" He twisted slightly to look up into her eyes. She didn't meet his gaze.

"I left to go to school in Britain," she said, smoothing the sheets with her hands. "I had a scholarship - Oxford, full ride. He begged me to stay..." She sighed. "I wasn't going to just throw away my career to become a bride, though," she added dryly.

Nemesis let out a snort of laughter and his lips twisted in a humorless smile. "Amen to that," he said.

"You never answered me," Kavita said after a moment. "Have you ever been in love, James?" She felt the muscles in his shoulder tense slightly under her hand.

"Hmm, didn't I?" His voice was carefully casual, bored, but there was a razor-sharp undertone to it. He shifted uncomfortably.

"Well?"

"No," he said shortly, voice tight. "I... have been engaged, though." It sounded as if he begrudged letting out that last information.

"What? You were engaged to someone you didn't-"

"Some nurse," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "Doesn't matter. It fell through."

"Doesn't _matter_? Look, if we're going to... be... whatever _this_ is, you have to at least tell me about things like this. What happened?" She poked him gently.

Nemesis heaved an annoyed sigh and sat up, letting the sheet fall away from his chest as he wrapped his arms around his knees. "_Fine_. But you're getting the condensed version." His jaw tightened for a moment before he went on. "Well, I was a _doctor_, she was a _nurse_... We were in our twenties, things were great, and getting married was the respectable thing to do - not that I had anyone to be respectable _for_." He snorted. "And everyone knows costumed heroes always have a girlfriend they keep in the dark. She was a little less of a sub-moron than other girls I knew, so I asked her to marry me."

They lapsed into silence again. Kavita frowned. "And she said no?"

Nemesis snorted again. "_Honestly_, Kavita. To think I was sitting here considering you almost intelligent. I already told you we were _engaged_," he said in exasperation. "She said yes."

"But... something happened to her?"

"Another no. Well, actually, lots of things happened to her - it's in the job description of being a superhero's girlfriend - but she didn't die or anything. She broke it off, sobbing something about 'commitment' and 'caring' in unintelligible English while blubbering like an idiot. I'm _glad_ it didn't work out," he said venomously, settling back into Kavita's arms.

"James," she said warningly, pushing him away slightly, "This is what I was talking to you about before. Emotion is not weakness, and it sounds to me like you treated her quite badly. You're being rude; don't mock her for being devastated."

"Oh, please." He rolled his eyes. "She's _dead_."

"What?"

"She was an idiot while she was alive, and now she's _dead_; so I can say whatever the hell I want to say about her. Can we talk about something else, now?" he asked irritably.

Kavita scowled briefly, but didn't pursue the subject. She leaned back against the pillows, closing her eyes and running her fingers languidly through Nemesis' hair. He relaxed into her touch, humming in appreciation.

"You better not tell anyone about this," he said suddenly, tilting his chin up again to look at her.

"Hmm? You mean, like, that we... slept together?"

"No. I mean this ridiculous cuddling, talking-about-my-childhood claptrap. Adolescence. Whatever. If you tell anyone I'll deflate your alveoli."

"So I can publicize the fact that we-"

"_No_," he said, frowning slightly. "And you should stop trying with the humor. You're acting like a cetacean on-"

"I _don't_ want to hear it, James," Kavita interrupted tersely. "God. You _really_ need to work on your people skills."

"People skills are irrelevant! And even if they weren't, mine are fine; I just don't waste time using them on people I don't-" he cut off, uncomfortable.

"Don't what?" she prompted dryly.

"I - nothing."

Kavita smiled wryly.

"Good, James," she said. "You're learning."


End file.
